What I've Learned About LinkedIn

Or: How I stopped worrying about the algorithm and started having actual conversations

A year ago, I made the leap. After 25+ years in corporate HR - including VP roles at FTSE 100 companies - I started Taggart People. I could do it all – leadership, talent, coaching, L&D – and I was going to tell people about it! I had a plan, I had experience, I had a LinkedIn profile with a decent network.

What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, quite a lot. But not in the ways I expected.

The Assumptions I Made (That Were Completely Wrong)

I came into this thinking LinkedIn was relatively straightforward: post consistently, share valuable insights, build my follower count, watch the algorithm work its magic. Clients would naturally find me.

I'd seen other consultants doing this. The formula seemed clear. Create content, demonstrate expertise, build authority. Simple.

Except it wasn't working.

Don't get me wrong - I was getting engagement. Posts were hitting decent impression numbers. People were liking, commenting occasionally. My follower count was growing. On paper, everything looked fine.

But when I actually looked at my pipeline? Nothing. Zero conversations that led anywhere. Lots of visibility, zero business.

I was essentially shouting into the void, hoping someone would hear me and think "I should hire that person."

The Uncomfortable Realisation

About nine months in, I had a conversation with a friend who'd been running their own practice for five years. They asked me a simple question:

"How many coffee meetings have you had with potential clients this month?"

I paused. The answer was... two. Maybe. And neither had come from LinkedIn. They'd come from old colleagues reaching out directly. And I was (at that point) too busy with client work to worry about the pipeline.

Then they asked: "How many hours have you spent on LinkedIn this month?"

That answer I knew immediately. Too many. Probably 15-20 hours creating posts, responding to comments, trying to "engage" with the algorithm.

The maths didn't add up. I was investing significant time in a platform that was generating impressive-looking metrics but zero actual business conversations.

Something had to change.

The First Big Shift: From Broadcasting to Strategic Engagement

Here's what I figured out - slowly, painfully, through trial and error:

LinkedIn isn't a broadcasting platform. It's a conversation platform.

But not just any conversations. Strategic conversations with people who actually matter to your business.

I had been treating LinkedIn like a stage. I'd post something thoughtful, people would applaud (like, comment), and I'd move on to the next performance.

What I wasn't doing was actually engaging with specific people in meaningful ways.

So, I tried something different. Instead of spending an hour crafting the perfect post, I spent 15 minutes leaving thoughtful comments on posts from people I'd actually want to work with. Not generic "great post!" nonsense - actual substantive engagement that showed I'd read what they wrote and had something to add.

The difference was remarkable.

When you comment thoughtfully on someone's content, they see your name. They click through to your profile. Sometimes they engage back. Sometimes they reach out.

Suddenly, I was having conversations. Real ones. About actual challenges people were facing. The kind of challenges I could help with.

Also, these weren't thousands of conversations with random people. They were 5-10 conversations per month with exactly the right people. Directors, VPs, senior leaders navigating transitions, HR leaders who needed my help. My ideal clients. And many of them locally, where we could actually meet in person.

The shift wasn't about reaching more people. It was about reaching the right people, in the right way.

The Second Big Shift: Quality Over Vanity Metrics

I currently have 2,788 LinkedIn connections. That sounds impressive, right? Nearly 3,000 people in my network.

But if I'm honest with myself, how many of those people could I call right now, and they'd know exactly what I do and how I could help them tomorrow? I don't even know the answer to that, but way less than my ego would like to admit.

The rest are just... there. Names in a database. They might see my posts occasionally. They certainly aren't thinking "I should introduce Mark to someone who needs his help."

I was obsessing over the wrong numbers. I'd check post impressions religiously. "Oh, this one got 800 impressions!" Great. And what happened as a result? Usually nothing.

Meanwhile, I'd have a 45-minute coffee meeting with a single person and that conversation would lead to an introduction to one of their Execs, which would lead to a consulting engagement.

One quality conversation was worth more than 10,000 impressions from people who'll never work with me.

Once I understood this - I stopped chasing follower growth. I stopped worrying about whether a post "performed well" in algorithmic terms.

Instead, I started asking different questions: Did this post lead to any meaningful conversations? Did anyone reach out to continue the discussion? Did it help someone I want to work with understand what I actually do?

If the answer was yes to any of those, it was a successful post. Even if it only got 50 impressions.

The Third Big Shift: Curiosity Over Pitching

This one took me the longest to figure out, probably because it felt counterintuitive.

When you're building a business, there's this pressure to "sell yourself." To make sure everyone knows what you do, who you serve, why you're brilliant at it.

So naturally, when I'd connect with someone new or have an initial conversation, I'd want to talk about my work. My approach. My experience. The value I could bring.

And you know what happened? People would politely nod along, say "that sounds great," and then... nothing. The conversation would peter out. No follow-up. No next steps.

Then, when I wasn't thinking about sales, I accidentally stumbled onto a different approach.

One of my contacts in an online LinkedIn group was asking about the nine-box grid and I just responded about how much I detested the nine-box grid and that there were so many other ways you could look at identifying talent. Ways that are simple, meaningful, and easy to implement.

She was curious so we had a call just to talk through and share experiences. I thought nothing more of it.

A couple of months later I get a random email. It was the same person asking me, "Hey, I've been thinking about that stuff we talked about and I think you're right. We need to do things differently. Do you want to come in and have a conversation about how you can help us?"

There you go, my next piece of consulting work.

The moment I stopped trying to sell and started being genuinely interested in other people's challenges, I made a real impact.

People don't want to be pitched to. They want to be understood. They want someone who listens carefully, asks good questions, and helps them think more clearly.

Which, by the way, is exactly what I do as a coach and consultant! But I was so busy trying to tell people that, I wasn't actually demonstrating it.

Now when I engage with someone on LinkedIn, I lead with curiosity. What are they working on? What's challenging right now? What's got their attention?

When you're genuinely curious about someone else's work, they naturally become curious about yours.

You don't have to pitch. You just need to be interested.

What This Actually Looks Like in Practice

Here's what I actually do now:

15-20 minutes every morning: Scan LinkedIn for posts from people I've identified as potential clients, strategic partners, or valuable connections. Leave 3-5 thoughtful comments. These aren't random people - they're specific individuals I've decided matter to my business.

30 minutes once a week: Send 3-5 connection requests to new people (with personalised messages). Follow up with recent connections. Update my notes on where various relationships stand.

That's it. 2-3 hours per week maximum.

Compare that to my first three months where I was spending 15-20 hours per week creating content and obsessing over metrics.

The result? Fewer impressions overall, but 5-10x more actual conversations with the right people.

Why I'm Sharing This

I've written all of this up into a comprehensive guide - frameworks, templates, examples, and the systematic approach I use now.

I'm sharing it for free with anyone who's building their own practice and wants it. Not because I'm trying to generate leads (though if we end up having a conversation, great). But because I'm a year ahead of where some people are, and I remember how confusing and frustrating those early months were.

If I can save someone else three months of "posting consistently and hoping," it's worth it.

If you're a fellow traveller on this road - building your own thing, figuring out how to use LinkedIn without losing your soul - drop me a message. The guide is yours. And I'm always interested in hearing what others are learning on this journey.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here's what nobody wants to hear: there's no algorithm hack that's going to build your business.

LinkedIn's algorithm doesn't care about your business goals. It cares about keeping people on the platform. Those two things occasionally align, but mostly they don't.

Building a sustainable independent practice requires doing the uncomfortable work of having real conversations with real people about real challenges. One at a time.

LinkedIn can make that easier. It can help you find the right people, start conversations, build relationships at scale.

But only if you stop trying to game the system and start using it for what it's actually good for: connecting with people who matter to your work.

That's what I learned in year one.

I suspect year two will teach me something completely different. Probably something that contradicts everything I just wrote.

But that's the joy of building your own thing - you're always learning, always adjusting, always figuring it out as you go.

If you're on this journey too, I'd love to hear what you're discovering.